Bend Bike Rodeo

This past Saturday marked the 5th annual Bend Bike Rodeo, about 80 parking lot spaces littered with a mixture of jumps and park features. Posing as a rider to get closer to the action and kick it with the competition, I got an exclusive look at the event and it’s inner workings. What started out as a safety course with the police 5 years ago has turned into a full fledged “gathering place for the showcasing of mountain bike and bmx talent” says organizer and builder Ian Betteridge.A principle crew of 8-10 were given only 2 days to shape trannies from the 85 yards of dirt for 3 wooden ramps, along with assembling a roll in ramp, a spine, and a quarter pipe. A 25 foot tall wall ride was erected on the side of a trailer above the quarter last thing Saturday morning. For only a small registration fee, riders were equipped with a t-shirt and a full day of jumping under the sun in the G.I. Joe parking lot in Bend, Oregon.

Aaron Nachtrab hitting up the RAGE wall ride

Originally the event was slated to include separate mountain bike and BMX categories, but after only 1 of the 3 bmx’ers in practice continued to ride into the qualifiers, the organizers chose to combine the two to make a multidiscipline class. “The contest was well put together. It felt like another fun day at the trails with a bunch of friends” commented participant Travis Erickson.

Erickson suicide no hander

Arriving in the Santa Cruz Syndicate van to judge the event was Bend local Kirt Voreis. There were 3 categories including pro class, expert and expert under 18, or in rodeo speak the ‘mutton busters’. Each podium standing received a bag of Nike 6.0 and Rage shwag , and a certificate entitling each rider to a Nike sponsorship for random gear and shoes.

All you really need to know is that these kids were pushing bikes that outweighed them and still outjumped half the field.

Organizer and builder Ian Betteridge says- “It’s really nice to see some high level talent come to Bend.” And health permitting (limbs intact), they plan on putting their heads together for a bigger, better Bend Bike Rodeo next year. Okay, can you make the pavement softer?

Helicopter over roll in- Rage films brought out a heli to shoot some vid